Dubliners, The - Off To Dublin In The Green Lyrics

Proud to be Irish, up the ira 🇮🇪

🎼 Some men fight for silver🎼
🎼Some men fight for gold🎼
But the IRA are fighting for..
The land that england stole.
🍀🇮🇪💚

Ronnie Drew has a voice that would grate coal

Best band in the world God bless and look.after them

Proper music!

nice positive song

What a great historical recording of the tune for the Republic! RIP Ronnie and Luke...

Well its certainly better than anything from John Lennon

I'm a Brit. Ireland should be free 👍

A fantastic performance.

Republic of Ireland!

god tier beards

Those magnificent beards...

fee lreland from british  rule now

By the looks of the photo above John Sheehan (at right) is really enjoyin' this gig. John is still fiddling i believe. He-'s certainly still alive...

Give Orlan back to the Orish!

Shut Up.

🇮🇪 Up da RA.

The island of Ireland should be one country. Let them shove their Brexit!

fight british rule for all them years to be governed by german rule

@stelladurban That's a point, Stella. But surely the EU with all its faults is better than Brexit.

@Robert Flint Absolutely Robert, a case of which shit smells the best unfortunately but time will tell if the union delivers the economic security it promised.

@stelladurban Point well taken, Stella. Have a nice one...

Irexit.

Sinn fein are traitors
The EU UN all Zionist media,tech companies NGOs and borderless charities must be disbanded for Ireland to keep our IRISH cultural heritage identity and have a peaceful future for our children.

For all Irish not just the south🇮🇪👌

God bless Ireland

is the rest of this concert available anywhere?

GREAT SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now that's a beard

Reminds me of apARTYnd two sisters AND A LACK OF CLOTHES

The IRA are fighting for the land that England stole. Brilliant!

@maximus Maxwell tick tock 🇮🇪 up the IRA 🇮🇪

@Mark McDougall what age are FFS sound like a teenager i should have more sense getting into a debate go ahead tell what you like about the RA they murdered my uncle in a roadside bomb in 1990 i am not going to start coming off with crap like UFF UVF etc best you go back to the xbox and go on please don't hurt me level GSTQ

@maximus Maxwell tick tock. Not long now. The IRA will set us free. 🇮🇪

@Mark McDougall NOT you as you are not from here are you the CO from the republican branch of the outer hebrides lol go read a few books then come back with the history of the IRA and also have a think if your family was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got blewup by a IRA bomb would you still chant IRA is that you in the pic if so you are just a kid and have no clue

@maximus Maxwell saoirse na hÉireann 🇮🇪 tick tock ⌛🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

England promise home rule to the Irish people back in the early part of the twentieth century if they help with the fight in world war I but real reason they wanted the Irish was to kill off as many of them as possible over 15o thousand of them died in that war

God bless the I R A I grew up they helped dear old Ireland get her freedom. I grew up with these songs It's my heritage band I'm proud of it

ronnie and luke together what could be better?

storyteller Nothing Absolutely Nothing!😂

The original and best lneup. Love the bright coloured shirts.

Are these voices raised at the tyranny of the the eu ?

EU Out!!!

Why'd you replace England with freestaters in the drop down lyrics?

Chucky ar law

Always sung at celtic parks

Luke at the end "Up da ra!!!!!!"

As in interesting bit of information, this song is a parody of a song about a ploughboy running off to join the British Army, usually the Royal Horse Artillery. "RHA" easily became "IRA" and I wonder whether this was the inspiration behind the tweak of the words of the song.

It is claimed that the parody was done by Dominic Behan. I don't think that there is any evidence either way, but it is very plausible.

There's some more info about the song and some different sets of words on this web page:

https://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/thekhakiandtheblue.html

There were many sets of words in different places, including this "Warwickshire RHA" version:


#############################
The Ploughboy (The Warwickshire R.H.A.)

I am a jolly ploughboy and I'm ploughing up the fields all day,
'Til a silly little thought came into my head I thought I'd be away,
For I'm tired of the dear old country life since the day that I was born,
So I've been and joined the army and I'm off tomorrow morn.

I'll leave behind my pick and spade and I'll leave behind my plough,
I'll leave behind my old grey mare I shall not need her now,
And no more will I go harvesting or gathering the golden corn,
For I've been and joined the army and I'm off tomorrow morn.

Well there's one thing that I'll leave behind and that's my Nelly dear,
And I've promised I'll be true to her whether I be far or near,
And if ever I return again I'll let you all see me,
For we're going to do the churchyard walk and a sergeants wife she'll be.

Ch: The Ploughboy
And hurrah for the scarlet and the green,
Helmets glistening in the sun,
And the bayonets flash like lightening to,
The beating of the military drum.
And there's a flag in dear old England,
Floating proudly in the sky,
And the watchword of our soldiers is,
We'll conquer or we'll die.

Ch: The Warwickshire R.H.A.
And hurrah for the Horse Artillery,
See the spurs how they glitter in the sun,
And the horses gallop like lightening,
With an fifteen pounder gun,
And when we get to France my boys,
The Kaiser he will say,
Ach Ach Mien Gott what a jolly fine lot,
Are the Warwickshire R.H.A.

Trad: British Army

Dubliners at their best.luke and the rest providing brilliant backing to Ronnies unique voice

Excellent song

Tiocfaidh ár lá

FUCK YES !!!
I like the Celtic version of the chorus lyrics though.

Happy Paddy's Day - Long Live the IRA!

31 brits out here

Wish the IRA won the war against England then so that the British could see they made a mistake trying ti take Ireland.

FireTheWolf We did win, that's why only 6 counties are occupied today. The reason for this is the Ulster Plantation (ethnic cleansing of Ulster Irish).

They Did.

I'll always be amused by Ronnie Drew's voice. Very sad he died of throat cancer. Had he lived through the fight and had a voice box I believe he would have had the same voice sound. Not trying for levity of his death, just a theory.

In 1971, the Free State banned RTÉ from playing this ballad, because they thought it might raise the gore in some of our people to stand up and assert themselves as Irishmen on behalf of Irishmen who were being oppressed in the Six Counties.

anyone know of a verison sung by Luke

the Dubliners own this song

HIBERNIAN FC SCOTTISH CUP WINNERS 21 MAY 2016

And they beat the dreaded Hun doing it too! Hahaha!

Scott Cunningham you deserved it

WHAT THE FUCK HAS THAT TO DO WITH ANYTHING

Great song ,my dad loved this song,,,r.i.p.dad

Song of the day: 09-07-2016: "the land that England stole" bit on the nose there, bit on the nose init?

21/09/2019: a rebel's wife she'll be; for Lily and our writhing in my basement apartment

One day all of Ireland AND Scotland shall be free from British imperialism.

Many of the Black and Tans were Scottish..... and Many English suffered under the class system

Good ,this will save the English taxpayer a bloody fortune ,mind you I love this songand the Dubliners

as AN English taxpayer that is fine with me .but I like the IrIsh and the Scots and thizs song which has good memories of many years ago

And go straight into the arms of the European Union, a German neo-fascist authoritarian technocrat project. Whew lad.

@NeanderthalRetardo well said , bloody eu is a curse

Meet me at the pillar

were all of to Dublin on Thursday!!!
Well a Five Minute walk to O'Connell Street For Me.

O.M.G! You made me in love again with me Irish syde!! oi! oi!! GOD, in' 73, Me glorious school teacher taught me this song! a sweet lassie in her time!

This is the real I R A off 1916 my R I P real men J MJ

No Thompson Guns in 1916, it's post war...

Billy Jazzcock Billy Jazzcock who the Brits

I'm a prod and I see the old ira as not a terrorist organisation but men who acc fought for a true cause. Not blowing up innocents. Also like the original UVF. Both fighting for what they believed in without bringing civilians into it.

Cheerful! Fashion comes round full circle, check out hair an clothes! Cool!

Thanks, Marie Williams, I added you to my Google + Circles my friend. Welcome aboard. Thanks

Did Ronnie ever appear on stage sober? Not that I'm knocking him, I think he sang great drunk.

Yes, Ronnie was a teetotaler for many years when he was older

+John Miller Irish people have to be drunk in order to deal with things like british greed and disdain for life.

Saw Ronnie at the Albert hall along with the rest of them in 1968/,69 they were brilliant.

I enjoyed it, but I think Dermot O' Brien sang it better. It sounds better, in jig time.

I love Luke Kelly's Afro.....

let us pray to these Irish hair styles, lord knows we are not worthy of their beauty

Partition has failed,  time to end British rule now.

                                                                      curraheered

Err.. wasn't all that dreadful violence in NI for all those years an attempt to end partition? That's been a bit of a failure too. It'll take a cleverer head than yours or mine to achieve a united Ireland. Perhaps to balance out this wonderful song, you should listen to The Sash My Father Wore, to examine the other perspective. And then come back and make your suggestions for uniting Ireland.

@Miss Merrily yeah, the sash gives such great perspective, cringily begging the english to come visit to watch the orangemen dance

This is the only song I remember from a St. Patrick's Day party 3 days before I joined the Army om March 20, 1975.

@***** Yeah Rory, how can I get in contact with you??  Gary and Glen both have my phone number.

When you said the army l thought you meant the Republican Army

I love his voice, could listen to him all day xx

Brilliant version!

absolutely fantastic love them thanks for sharing @Charlie McD 

Hi Marie, you're welcome.

Just to explode a few green Guinness fuelled myths, it originated as an English song - the Dubliners' version is a parody. Originally composed by John J Blockley (born St. Pancras) around 1870, and entitled "The Scarlet And The Blue". References in some versions to the Royal Horse Artillery, the Warwickshire RHA, the East Yorks Tatton-Sykes Waggoners' Militia, etc. Very popular 1914-1918, sung by the dirty Brits and Irish on their way to die on the Western Front.  

@Brendan McGlinchey Sorry too. I should have made it clearer I suppose.  Hope my reply wasn't too cocky  :-)

+Abiezer Coppe We were taught this version in music class 1966 at Carrack Academy in Maybole . It was a prossie school too. A subversive act but he wasnae the teacher we called Poof ,

+caley956 I guess it's my responsibility as an Irish-Mischling-American to inform you of the fact that prior to WW2, the M1921 Thompson Submachine Gun, caliber .45, was a relatively obscure weapon, as WW1 ended 2 days before prototypes could be shipped to the Western Front, and it was very expensive at the time. The price was too much for the US Armed Forces to purchase large quantities of in times of peace and economic depression, however, the IRA was fighting at the time, and many Americans of Irish descent sympathized with them. The Irish-Americans pooled up the equivalent of nearly 2 million of today's dollars, and sent many a Thompson Gun, originally released as the Annihilator, to the IRA.

Everyone knows the story, and it isn't the first time the Irish have used an English song for their own ends and improved on the outcome to make a rebel point. They tend to do it just to rub the English's noses in it. I see you fell into the trap of assuming they were unaware of what they were doing. The Irish are laughing their heads off at you.

Who cares?

A great loss....RIP Ronnie...love this song

It's rattle of a thompson gun not echo

+umbongo82 Thats the way I learned it

+1lightheaded You learned it wrong

I was always taught "the echo of the Thompson gun". That's the version that everyone sings in Glasgow, or at least the green end!

what a song. xx

Fantastic, Irish folk the envy of the world the marvel of the Irish 

Frábært, Great,Great!!!!!

Why! oh Why! does it have to be political? or religious? why doesn't everyone just like it for what it is,the talent of the Dubliners and really good  folk music which seems to be rapidly disappearing,

Saw this great band live at the Albert Hall 1968, have lots of their albums, Ilisten to this music as I do all other types  ,from folk to heavy metal because I like it .

@Jeff Bird Well said.

+Jeff Bird It's a very political song!

+Jeff Bird the song is about joining the RA and going off to kill the English oppressors, so of course its political.

talents fine but they all meant every word .

still the best voice I've heard, I was brought up on the Dubliners and lots of other folk
music but no one even comes close to Ronnie Drew for the voice its like crushing coke under a door BRILLIANT!!!   R.I.P. Ronnie    

Their sound here is AMAZING.

@Nelly Pringle Should have heard them live , on stage. Never forget it.

I saw them twice in Newcastle in 2010 and 2011 and loved it - I'm particularly glad to have seen and heard Barney.

Saxon pigs

up the -r-

Would someone explain it so's I can understand it. It was the Saxons wot done it. We all want peace and we all want to be happy. Up the IRA.

The man in the iron mask pt 3 !! History is written by those who rule over us ! Guye foxe was a pawn of a higher power any hoo

It is capitalist v worker . One religion to rule over ! etc etc . Its a game ethics keep . But follow your soul brother

That foreign Marxist bullshit is mostly to blame for the partition.

Muslims are coming folks. Christians will have to unite or we will all be doomed

billybob6200 If they want unity they can gtfo of our land/let OUR land be united.

Glory Be To Our Jesus Christ King Of The Universe. ➕ ☘️ 🇮🇪

Is it still no ?

I agree about the facts. But that assault can't be the only reason Catholics got treated differently.

This discussion was not about the course of history. But you seem to justify the British repression of Catholics. Are you?

What's getting tedious? I just think you are not being consistent. American Baptists and Lutherans feared that having a Catholic in the White House would give influence to the Pope, even though there was no such risk. Just like not every anti-catholic legislation and executive order in the UK and early US was justified. Your arguments were often used to excuse discrimination.

But you can view every atrocity in historical context that way. I understand that there was a power struggle within and around the British Empire and I understand that Catholics were just as hungry for the throne as their enemies, but that doesn't mean you can justify the discrimination against catholics that went on until the 20th century.

And why are you OK with Kennedy becoming president but do you seem to defend catholics in 19th century Britain not having equal rights? Same risk, right?

JFK was a Catholic.

So for example JF Kennedy should not have been allowed to become president because he was a catholic?

Saying that catholics didn't have the same rights because they would be loyal to the pope is just another excuse to discriminate them.

It's a shame the Dubliners have lost their pro-independence stance (in public at least). I've been going to their concerts for a few years now, and never heard them perform this, or "A nation once again"

Many years age I live in Kilburn in London I was a small boy then and would hear this being sang in the end I sing it to,only trouble was I was English and got into some bad fights never understood why for many years. They don`t teach this history in schools in England or how bad they were to the Afrikaans.

John Faulkner 800 years of occupation, oppression, and genocide.

Actually, they do teach this history.

@Drogo Muircastle Not in the UK they don't.

@hetrodoxly
The "Irish" mp's you're talking about were exclusively Protestant. Which means effectively English landowners who wanted to oppress the Catholics just as much as westminster did. Where do you think the penal laws came from dipshit.

Wales is the oldest colony in the world

Your on the wrong video then

BRITON FOREVER.

you wish bucko

Dear God this brings back many happy memories of my youth....real life of course being otherwise....guess its bury the hatchet time now

I see some pretty majestic beards here

Damn, man, that sounded cool. You should be a writer.

Worry not, friend. IRA and NRA are two sides of the same coin. No longer in circulation. A relic of ancient days, long gone, inspired by hatred, inspiring hatred, never relevant or progressive. Best forgotten, and buried under a ton of mud.

The original IRA liberated the 26 counties of Ireland from English oppression and unwanted rule. They defeated imperialism. Comparing them to the NRA is opaque and irrelevant nonsense. There is zero comparison or relevance.

Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet and many more were no Catholics but they were great Irish patriots

Im Irish Catholic Glory Be.

Still is

omg , did i hit a little nerve there ? oops :P aww well as long as u never forget :) and dump,rot :( harsh words there , my wee irish friend .

up the i.r.a freedom fighters :P who taught the british and their protestant sympathisers a lesson they will never forget ;)

Err... IRA... my bad. An American like me gets the two confused...